I will never die
by Jed Rhodes
Summary: Sequel to my other Harry Potter crossovers. Harry, Ron and Hermione, in the year 2020, find a body killed in mysterious circumstances - and they call the Doctor for help, only now the Doctor isn't alone. Featuring Donna.
1. Prologue

**If you haven't read my previous HP/DW crossovers, then you'd better do, or this won't make much sense. Sorry.**

**Prologue one.**

**1976**

These creatures were called Veela, from what he knew. His researches had been fruitful enough so that he knew where to find them, and their abilities had no effect on his Time Lord mind.

He had about five or six dozen of them linked into his machine, ready to be drained. Their power would then be sent over the world, convincing all the men of planet Earth to bow to their will – and that meant that they would bow to the Masters.

He flicked a switch, and sat back in his chair. The Doctor hadn't noticed anything yet, and by the time he did, the Master would have four or five billion men at his command, including UNIT.

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind him. "I hate to be annoying, but you do realise that you can't do this, don't you?"

The Master spun around in his chair, and found himself facing a man in a plum suit, with long silver hair with streaks of auburn in it, and a long beard.

His first reaction was that this was the Doctor, regenerated. It had to be.

"Doctor, that body is absolutely ridiculous," the Master said, smiling. "Even worse than the last one."

The man looked confused.

"I fear you may have mistaken me for someone else," he said. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I represent –"

When he heard that, the Master whipped his TCE out and aimed it at the man.

"I do not care who you represent," he said, grinning his devilish, catlike grin, "but if you aren't the Doctor, you're merely an annoyance. Goodbye."

He shot the man. He stared for three seconds. He shot the man again. He kept staring.

Alcus Dumblemore, or whatever his name was, was still standing, his own size, his own shape.

"You should be dead," the Master pointed out.

Dumbledore held up his wand, and smiled.

"I'm not one to confront dark wizards in their lair unarmed," he said.

"Dark wizards?" the Master said. "There's no such thing as Wizards, you old fool, I'm the Master!"

"Good for you," Dumbledore said. "Now…"

At that point, a vworp vworp noise came out of nowhere, and a blue box materialised. A man with thick blonde curls popped his head out of the door, and looked around, before fixing his gaze on the Master.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he asked. "You do know that this is totally, utterly wrong, don't you?!"

The Master grimaced.

"Please Rassilon, why can't you ever leave me alone?!" he screamed.

--

Dumbledore stepped back as the two men began exchanging insults and babble that he didn't recognise, although he knew that it had to be muggle stuff. He knew practically all wizarding terms, and he recognised almost nothing these men were saying, apart from the various insults that the blonde man was throwing.

The clothes this other man was wearing were hideous, though. Horrible coat of clashing colours, yellow trousers with black stripes, purple waistcoat and a horrid blue-with-white-spots tie. No self respecting muggle would ever go out dressed like that, if he knew his muggles, which he liked to think he did. He was never an expert, but he did know his muggles.

"And," this new man said after a while of technobabble, in an incredulous tone, "you really expected this to work?!

"Yes, it _will_ work," the Master said. "I have made every possible preparation."

"And him?!" the other man yelled. "What's he doing here? Another of your hypnotised lackeys?"

"No," the Master said, "he's here of his own accord, trying to stop me."

"Well, a fat lot of good you've done!" the man suddenly yelled at Dumbledore. "You've been here, what, ten minutes now? And yet you still haven't made a move?"

"I intended to, before you arrived," Dumbledore said calmly.

The man looked at him in absolute anger with a mixture of shock, shame and confusion, before turning back to look at the Master.

"Now!" he yelled. "I'm going to put a stop to this!"

"I don't think so Doctor," the Master said. He aimed his TCE at the Doctor and smiled. Dumbledore quietly held his wand out…

And suddenly the Master was holding a pen. He looked at it in absolute shock for a moment, while he tried to work out what he was doing holding it. The Doctor smiled, and pressed a button on the console. The Veela were released instantly as the machine powered down. The Master looked up at the Doctor, who smiled again, then he ran for a Grandfather Clock in the corner, and went inside in a moment.

The Doctor turned to Dumbledore with an inquisitive look.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm no one in particular," Dumbledore replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, time traveller, Time Lord and occasional doer of good deeds," the Doctor replied, smugly. Then his smile softened, and he said, quieter "Thank you for holding him up, before I came."

He walked over to his box, and turned to face Dumbledore.

"And nice suit!" he said. Then the door closed, and the box vanished. Dumbledore looked down at his suit, and then shuddered. As soon as he could, he would burn it, and buy some decent robes. He would never wear something that man thought looked good.

He looked at the Veela huddling around - they looked forlorn, afraid, shell shocked by their ordeal. He swore privately to himself that he would find out who those men were - and then there would be answers.

--

**2020.**

Harry Potter walked into the room, where Ron Weasley, his friend and colleague, waited. The body was stretched out along the floor, eyes open and staring, and Ron was kneeling next to it. Harry leaned over and stared into the blank, staring eyes.

"What're we dealing with here?" he asked his friend.

"What do we usually deal with?" Ron replied, smiling slightly. "The weird, the unexplained..."

"Anything on Earth or even beyond," Harry finished. "So which is this?"

"I'd say beyond," a light female voice came from behind him. Hermione Weasley walked in, with a roll of parchment. "Cause of death was a massive shock to the system, definitely beyond anything we can do."

"The Avada Kedavra?" Harry reminded her.

"Leaves no marks," Ron said, "but this guy has a burn in his chest."

"Lovely," Harry grimaced. "So what do we think?"

"Could be the Daleks, I suppose," Hermione said. "But I don't think so."

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"I've seen these kinds of wounds before," Hermione said, grimly. "On the bodies of men killed during the battle of Hogwarts, by the Master."

Ron stood up, his face suddenly devoid of colour.

"He's dead," Harry pointed out.

"That never stopped him before, according to the Doctor," Hermione replied.

"Then what do we do?" asked Ron. "If it is him..."

"We call the Doctor," Hermione said, resolutely. "And then... we hope he can stop the Master."

"And if he can't?" Harry asked - someone had to. They knew full well how dangerous the Master could be, what it had cost the planet once to stop him.

Hermione had filled the Auror office in on the Doctor, the Master and all the other things she knew shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts. She had paid special detail to the Master and his actions. When Harry Saxon had become Prime Minister, nobody had dared breath, and the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, had made sure that he hadn't revealed the presence of the Wizarding world to him. They all knew that the Master had died at Hogwarts, but as Hermione told it, that had never been an obstacle for him previously - the echo of the Master having been a prime example of the mans resourcefulness. Even if it wasn't the same Master who had died at Hogwarts, since he was a Time Traveller, he could be in any point in his history.

Having been informed of the Master, not to mention various other threats, the Ministry created what was known officially as the Department of Extra Terrestrial Investigation and Combating, or ETIC. Their job was to effect a defence against all alien threats to the Wizarding world. Since most threats ignored the Wizarding world and concentrated on the whole one, it was a pretty quiet job, but there were occasions when the ETIC were called in. Like now.

"Answer me, Hermione," Harry insisted. "What if the Doctor can't stop him?"

Hermione looked at him, her eyes filled with stoicism and dread in equal measure. That was all the answer he needed.


	2. The Doctor comes in

"So, where next?" Donna Noble asked him. The Doctor said nothing, and just smiled at her mysteriously.

"Go on, tell me!" she said, leaning forward excitedly. "No wait, let me guess. Egypt, with the Pharaohs and all that!"

"Nope," the Doctor grinned.

"Ancient Greece?" she guessed again.

"Earth, 2020," he replied. "I got a call."

She stared at him in shock.

"Not Martha again, was it?" she asked.

"No," the Doctor replied, "it wasn't Martha, it was another old friend. Hermione, her name was, and she used to travel with me a while back."

"Before Rose?" Donna asked gently. The Doctor looked slightly forlorn for a moment.

"No," he said. "Right after Rose. About a year after, actually – she travelled for six months. It was... fun."

"Oh yeah?" Donna said. "Was she another of those charity cases?" she added jokingly.

"No!" the Doctor yelled in mock outrage. "She was a schoolgirl, for goodness sake Donna, you have a dirty mind!"

Donna held her hands up, with a 'don't blame me,' look on her face.

"Anyway," the Doctor continued. "She'd be – ooh, thirty odd by now?"

"Sounds interesting," Donna said. "Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "She's a witch."

"What?" Donna said, confused. "You mean you fell out with her, or that she's a druid, or what?"

"You'll see when we meet her!" the Doctor said. "Anyway, we're almost there..."

--

Hermione checked her watch. She was standing in a room in the ETIC building, with at least three other ETIC people as well as Ron and Harry.

"You summoned him less than thirty seconds ago," one of her colleagues pointed out. "How fast is he?"

"Speed ain't got anything to do with it," Ron replied, as Hermione checked her watch again. "Time travel is more a matter of getting the right era than keeping schedule anyway."

As he spoke, the old wheezing groaning started again, and the TARDIS materialised in front of them.

"All righty then?!" the Doctor yelled, almost jumping out of the door. Hermione ran to hug him, and he laughed as she stepped back.

"Hermione, great to see ya! Ron!" he said, catching sight of the ginger man in one corner. "HARRY!!" he yelled when he saw the other man wearing spectacles. "Great to see ya both! Marvellous! Brilliant! Ooh – DONNAAA!!"

A short woman with ginger hair stepped out of the TARDIS, and sheepishly nodded to the assembled people.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Donna Noble."

"Current TARDIS co-pilot," the Doctor nodded. Hermione shook her hand.

"She's not a...?" one of the other men said. The Doctor turned to him and said "and you would be...?"

"Daniel Carrigan," the man said. "ETIC."

"ETIC?" the Doctor asked.

"Extra Terrestrial Investigating and Combating," Ron said. "We're like the wizarding worlds UNIT."

"Indeed?" the Doctor nodded. "So, you barge around, think you have a right to go anywhere and solve all your problems with force, do you?"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. Donna coughed. The Doctor looked Carrigan straight in the eye.

"You don't trust me in the slightest do you?" he said, more stating it than asking.

"This organization was set up when Albus Dumbledore met your prior self," Carrigan replied, "stopping a man known as the 'Master' from using Veela to conquer the planet. He instigated this organisation –"

"When did I meet Dumbledore?!" the Doctor yelled. "I didn't meet him until I started work at Hogwarts!"

"You met him in the body described as tall, slightly overweight and wearing a horrible coat of clashing colours," Carrigan said sniffily.

"That explains it then," the Doctor said, and left it at that. Donna looked rather baffled at all the talk going on around her.

"What are you lot on about?!" she yelled.

"It doesn't matter, Donna," the Doctor said. "It's fine."

"And it's not why we need you here," Hermione interrupted. "He's back Doctor."

"Who?" the Doctor asked, but the look in Hermione's eye was unnerving. It couldn't be anyone good.

"Him," she just said simply. The Doctor looked at her for one more second... then he understood.

"No," he said, looking shocked, appalled, then sad in very quick succesion.

"Yes," Hermione replied, sadly. "A man was killed three days ago by a powerful charge running through his body. We identified the charges signature as that of a laser screwdriver."

"Anyone could create a laser screwdriver," the Doctor replied.

"No one on Earth," Carrigan said, snootily. "The only option is the Master – he has the brains to do it, but he has no transport, since his TARDIS was taken, I believe, by you."

"You were a Slytherin, weren't you?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, and proud of the fact," Carrigan replied. "Pure blood, passed Hogwarts with straight O's, and got the first pick of whatever I wanted. Then, recently, I was –"

"Yeah, yeah, we didn't ask for your life story," Donna said. Despite not getting any of this stuff, she knew a stuck up prat when she met one.

"At any rate," Ron put in, "we figured we didn't stand a chance against the Master, unless you helped us."

"We didn't want to go up against a crazy time lord unprepared," Harry added.

"Will you help us?" Hermione asked.

"Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I don't want to let you lot go up against him all by your lonesome!"

He ran off, leaving Donna standing there, three people staring at her.

"Will someone," she asked, "please tell me," her voice rose slightly, "what the HELL IS GOING ON?!"

--

He sat back and sipped at his tea. They were, as he had intended, suitably worried. Good. If things went as he had always planned, the Doctor would be imprisoned by those who he had come to trust. His agent was certainly prepared to act when the time was right.

'Funny, the things one learns when one is dead,' he mused to himself. 'I would never have thought myself capable of this sort of manipulation when I was alive, but now I'm dead – it works. I understand what is necessary; and I have the detachment to do it.'

The painting of Albus Dumbledore smiled. 'Oh, I am dead, and loving it!'


	3. Betrayal 1

III

--

The Doctor perused over every document that the Battle of Hogwarts clean up team had written. Every detail about what happened to him, and others, and every detail about the Master's funeral pyre.

"Here's something," Hermione said, after a while. "Luna Lovegood was seen near the pyre about thirty minutes after you left."

"Luna Lovegood? Xeno's daughter?" the Doctor replied.

"Yes," she said. "She was seen by a few people heading down there. It was later reported that the pyre had been doused by a spell..."

"Where does Luna live?" the Doctor asked.

"She won the Muggle Lottery a while ago," Carrigan, across at another table, said. "She did it quite by accident, or so she said. She lives in her Dad's old house."

"Then let's go," the Doctor said, standing up and heading for the TARDIS.

--

The old trio, together with the Doctor, Donna, and Carrigan, were in the TARDIS which was rather erratically heading for Luna Lovegood's home. Donna had been filled in on magic and, while she didn't really believe it, she would play along. Hermione Granger had seemed quite happy about being in the TARDIS, while Harry whatshisface and Ron Weasel – something like that – were both slightly apprehensive. Carrigan had just sneered.

Donna studied the face of the thirty something woman intently – it was Hermione that most interested her.

"Do you want something?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, no," Donna replied, smiling falsely. "It's just... I was wondering why you left the Doctor."

"I had travelled with him for Six Months," Hermione replied. "Enough time."

"Not really," Donna replied, as the Doctor passed them by, pulling a lever. "I've been with him for about that long, and it's never enough time to see everything he promises."

"I wanted to live my life, lets just say," Hermione said. "I wasn't that bothered about the travel – it was a holiday, and nothing more."

"That's a pretty narrow view," Donna said. "I turned him down the first time – he'd just lost Rose..."

At the mention of Rose, Hermione grimaced.

"...and I was about to get married. Turned out that the marriage..."

"Was a sham, and that your fiancée was working for a giant alien spider," Hermione finished sharply. "He told me all about you. About how from you, he learned that he needed someone to stop him. About how sad he was that you didn't take up his offer. About how I was that someone."

Donna stared at her blankly.

"He... mentioned me?"

"Yes," Hermione said, softer now. "He said, 'I suppose it was all too much for her.' I suppose it was al too much for me, in the end. That's why I left."

"We're almost there!" the Doctor yelled.

"And then there was all that stuff about the Battle of Hogwarts, then the fighting that followed," Hermione said. "He saved our world, in a way – but at the cost of" - she broke off.

"At the cost of what?" Donna asked.

"Too much," Hermione whispered.

"We're here!" the Doctor said, running for the door and bounding out of it. Hermnione and the others followed silently, and Donna was last out – rather shocked. She had never known she had that much impact on him. Amazing.

--

Luna Lovegood opened the door, and smiled at the Doctor.

"Hello, Lord of Time," she said. "You've come to talk about your fallen brother of the vortex, haven't you?"

She had definitely gotten madder with age, Hermione decided. She wore a long rob, and a high collar over it. The Doctor seemed to recognise it, and his smile seemed forced.

"Well, yes. I was wondering about him – have you seen him around?" he asked.

"Oh no," Luna said. "He can't be seen now. Only heard."

"So you've been listening to him?"

"He's here," she replied, holding up her hand and showing him the ring on her middle finger. "Within this. He talks to me sometimes. We discuss things. All the times and places he's seen, with you and against you. He says hello, by the way."

The Doctor stared at the ring in wonderment.

"A bio-scan ring!" he said. "He stored his entire essence in here!"

"Everything he was, could be and would be," Luna smiled. "And it's all safe."

The Doctor smiled a genuine smile now, and shook her hand.

"Take care of him for me," he asked.

Ron stared at Luna, and narrowed his eyes. She ignored him, but Hermione noticed.

--

**Ten and a half years earlier.**

The fat was walking.

Seventeen people in St Mungo's had been reporting strange feelings in their stomachs, and they were now giving off strange walking fat things. It was the most surreal sight Ron had ever seen – for a wizard, that was truly saying something.

"No way," Harry said, as the little things walked down a London street.

Even weirder had been the spaceship. Odd, it had been, but the wizarding world had not made any decisions regarding how to act – and by the time they made up their minds, the ship – and the fat – had gone.

"What's the betting the Doctor was involved?" Harry had asked. Ron had said nothing, but was angry because his mother had been among those few wizards who had taken the Adipose pills. If the Doctor was involved, he decided, then he'd better have sorted it out well and proper. Or else he'd have Ronald Weasley to answer to.

--

**The present.**

"Well that rules the Master out," Harry said. "But if it isn't him, who else is it?"

"I think I know," Ron said darkly, but nobody heard him.

"We'll need to consider all the other options," the Doctor said. "A lot of alien monsters could build a laser screwdriver..."

"Could you?" Carrigan said. "As a weapon against them?"

"I could, but I won't," the Doctor replied sharply. "It's against my principles."

"Well," Donna said, "if it isn't this Master bloke, who could it be?"

"Another Time Lord perhaps?" Ron asked.

"There aren't any more," the Doctor said.

"There's you," Ron said, taking his wand out.

"Yes, but haven't you been listening? I wouldn't. It's against my principles."

Ron ignored him, and aimed his wand. Hermione stared at him, and Harry looked dumbfounded. Carrigan drew his wand out, but didn't look as if he knew who to aim it at.

"In the name of the wizarding world," Ron Weasley began, "and freedom and safety..."

"Ronald, what are you doing?" Hermione berated him. "This isn't helping!"

"...I arrest you. You have no rights under wizarding law. Surrender or face the consequences."

"I said," Hermione shouted, "what are you doing?!"

"Give over, what can he do with that?" Donna asked. The Doctor stared at Ron, not quite believing his own eyes.

"I'm doing the best thing for my family that I can," Ron replied, his voice breaking slightly. He aimed his wand. "This man is a threat to the entire wizarding world. I am protecting my family and our world."

"Ron, no..." Harry said. Ron aimed his wand at him and stunned him without a word.

The Doctor said only one word, glaring daggers at Ron.

"Don't."

"Stupify," Ron said.

--


	4. Tales of the Doctor and Dumbledore, Pt 1

**Ten and a bit years earlier.**

The car was belching gas.

That was all Ron could think as he watched freom the window of his home. The car. Was belching. Gas.

"I told you we shouldn't have bought that Atmos thing!" his mother was nagging his father, behind him. Hermione was busy fussing over the kids.

But all Ron could think was that the car - his car - was belching noxious gas.

"Bloody hell," he whispered.

--

**The Present.**

The Doctor woke up with a start. He looked around and took in his surroundings.

"So you're awake, then," came a scathing cockney voice. He looked arouind to see Donna, leaning against a wall. "Some mates of yours, this lot are," she continued. "I mean, as soon as they get the chance, they zap you with their magic wands. Brilliant."

He sat up, and took in his surroundings properly. He was in a room, with no windows, one door (with no windows, or bars) and it all seemed to be hewn from the rock, as if it was an adapted cave.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well, that Wizard bloke zapped you," Donna explained, "then him and that other Wizard bloke dragged us all 'ere. That bird was all nagging him the whole way, but she never did anything. I thought you saved these peoples lives once?"

"I did," the Doctor said. "I thought I did. I certainly helped. But... I don't know what brought this on."

"Well, Mr skinny boy," Donna sighed, "you must've gotten us into this mess, so you'll get us out of it."

"Did they say anything?" the Doctor asked Donna. "Anything at all that might explain this?"

"Well," Donna said, thinking back, "When the ginger one zapped you, the bird was all yelling until he said who he was working for. Some bloke."

"Who?" the Doctor insisted. "A name, Donna, I need to know if you heard the name!"

"Sommat like..." Donna concentrated. "Dumbledore, yeah, that was it."

The Doctor slumped back in his chair and looked straight at a wall.

"Doctor, who is Dumbledore?" Donna asked. "Doctor...?"

--

**Hogwarts, 1995.**

The Doctor sat back and drank his tea in peace. Nobody ever talked to him about anything and he found this to be a most satisfactory arrangement. After all, why would the staff bother making friendships when there was a bet (not that anybody would own up to it) that he would be the second DADA teacher to die in the last six years? He didn't think it worthv his while to tell them that actually - even if he was killed - the chances were he'd just regenerate.

Albus Dumbledore sat down beside him a moment later.

"Professor," the Doctor acknowledged, inclining his head.

"Doctor," Dumbledore replied. "How's it going?"

"Well," the Doctor smiled, and it was the truth. His work as a DADA teacher was going superbly. He'd even sold the design of the Galactic Glitter to the Weasley twins, telling them 'to make sure they used it solely in the cause of troublemaking.' He loved stirring things up.

"And what do you make of the students?" Dumbledore asked.

"A nice bunch," the Doctor said. "Eager to learn. There are a few exceptions, but mostly - yeah, I like 'em."

Dumbledore smiled, and stood up.

"Doctor," he nodded.

"Professor," the Doctor smiled. Dumbledore walked off.

"Such a nice man," he murmured to himself.

--

**The chamber of Fallen Heroes, Ministry of Magic, the Present.**

Hermione could scarecely believe her eyes.

She had known that there was a place in the Ministry of Magic where the Fallen Heroes were commemerated, but she had never thought she would see it. Yet here she was, in a room filled with paintings, thousands of them.

She was here, she reminded herself, to see a specific one.

Ron and Harry walked side by side, though Harry was unarmed - and Hermione could tell he was seething. 'The Doctor was arrested without consulting him,' Hermione thought. 'That's why he's mad. He doesn't care that we've betrayed a friend.'

Eventually, they came to a small plinth with a painting set into it. Sitting there, auburn haired and sipping a cup of tea, was Albus Dumbledore as he had been in the seventies, Plum Suit and all.

"Ah, Harry," he smiled. "It's good to see you. Miss Granger. Mr Weasley."

Ron inclined his head to the picture. Harry said nothing, waiting for the painting to make the first move. Hermione was nowhere near so patient.

"Why did you have Ron arrest the Doctor?" she asked, hissing the words ut angrily. Ron restrained her, but Dumbledore only smiled.

"Why, my dear Miss Granger, have you never considered the danger in which the Doctor places our world?" he asked.

"You're mad," Harry said. "The Doctor's only ever tried to help."

"And he leaves as soon as it is convienient for him," Dumbleodre snapped. "I've seen him, when he was younger. He stopped the Master then buggered off without another word, leaving me to deal with the mess that crazy swine left. Those Veela were never the same after that, you know? Never. I swore then I'd put paid to the Doctor."

"Why?" Harry asked. "You could have stopped him when he worked at Hogwarts."

"That was the real me," Dumbledore snarled. "A weakling - too scared to do anything himself. He had to get you and others to do his dirty work for him. He let himself get killed because he didn't think. He let sentimentalism get in the way of fighting evil. I'm different. Colder. Better at doing my work."

"You're not Dumbledore then," Hermione said. "He was a man who cared."

"And where did it get him?" the Painting asked. "Where did it get me? An empty house... my brother hated me, my sister and mother were dead, and the only person I'd ever loved... was insane in prison."

"Who?" Hermione asked.

"Grindlewald," Harry said. The picture narrowed his eyes, while Hermione widened hers.

"But... but..." she stammered.

"I realised it when I read about it," Harry said. "He was friends with Grindlewald. I should have guessed it was more then - only love would keep a man so blind as to follow a lunatic."

"Of course," the picture smiled. "You're intellect Harry, has never failed you. You, on the other hand, Miss Grnager, are as blinded as I am by your hopeless adoration for this... Doctor."

Ron turned to her and looked mildly confused. Hermione blanched.

"Oh don't deny it," the picture said scathingly. "You see him as your intellectual equal. The only man who can keep up with you. Oh I have no doubt that Mr Weasley is your one and only, the man you want to die with, but the Doctor is something else..."

"Hermione," Ron said, sounding hurt, lost, "is this true? Do you love the Doctor?"

"Of course she does," the painting said. "Who wouldn't? But while you love him, his hearts are forever taken by one much less than you."

Hermione met the paintings eye.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked. The painting smiled. Harry said nothing, but turned to meet the paintings eye as well.

"I won't betray my friend," he said.

"You will when you hear this," Dumbledore smiled. "It was so very long ago, but it still happened. The day the Doctor met Voldemort..."


	5. He's Back

**One day, many years ago…**

--

Tom Riddle looked out at the lake. He was, as always, calm, cool and collected. But inside he was sad.

He had searched for the truth about his father, and his mother. He couldn't find them. Not here, in this place, could he find either of them. Was that it then? Was he a – and here he shuddered – mudblood?

"Alright, mate?" came a voice from behind him. The boy looked up, to see a man, young, with blue eyes, short hair and the worst ensemble to ever grace Hogwarts, smiling at him.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Me? Oh, I'm just an interested party," the man said. "Interested in you, Tom."

"Me?" the boy asked. "Why me?"

"Well, rumour has it, you're someone to be interested in," the man whispered.

"I'm nothing," Tom Riddle snapped bitterly. "Absolutely nothing."

"Hoi, now," the man said, "that's not an attitude to have! Nobody's nothing, you know…"

"I am," Tom muttered.

"No," the man said firmly. "You aren't. You are smart, talented, and powerful. Those aren't the attributes of a nothing. Of course, since I've never met a nothing, I wouldn't know what it's attributes are, but you aren't a nothing, I can tell you that…"

"I may as well be," Tom said, but half heartedly, as if he was listening.

"Look, Tom my boy, my advice is, you go, have a nap, and the world will seem brighter tomorrow," the man smiled at him. Tom looked at him, then smiled as well, and went off, to take his advice. The man smiled for a moment longer, then sighed.

"Oh Tom. If only you were nothing."

He walked off. A moment later, Dumbledore appeared, having made himself invisible to spy on Tom Riddle. That man was someone he had never met, but he seemed to know a bit about Tom. Dumbledore resolved to find out more about him at his earliest opportunity.

"But that opportunity never came…"

--

**The Present.**

"I never realised who that man was until I saw him at Hogwarts again. He was teaching. It was, I can assure you, quite a surprise to me, but I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and study him. He seemed to have no malicious intent – and I know he has not. But, as you well know, where the Doctor goes, trouble follows."

"The man you describe sounds like the Doctor who fought at the Battle of Hogwarts," Hermione said.

"I know about him," the Dumbledore painting said. "Rumours abound about that – the word I think is Unbound – Incarnation of the Doctor. But the Doctor we have now is the true threat."

"What should we do?" asked Ron.

"There are precious few options available to us," the painting said. "For now, keep him under guard."

--

**2010.**

"Hermione, come on!" Ron called. They ran into the control centre, Hermione finding it hard to keep up – her pregnant figure attesting to that.

"Carrigan, what is this?" Harry asked.

"Apparently, the muggle authorities are receiving a transmission from those other worlds," Carrigan said. "It would appear that someone wants to talk to us."

"Who?" asked Hermione.

"Message coming through now," Carrigan said. The old radio crackled to life as a metallic voice spoke.

"Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate…"

Hermione blanched, and put her hand over her abdomen.

"No," she whispered. "Not here. Not now. Please."

"Who are they?" Ron asked, holding his wife's other hand. Hermione didn't speak. The message went on.

"Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"The worst thing you can imagine," she said, tears dropping down from her eyes.

"What?" Carrigan asked.

"Daleks."

--

**The Present.**

Luna Lovegood looked up, cocking her head as if listening. The voice was speaking. It always spoke, telling her of adventures beyond the understanding of mere men, but this time it was something more direct.

"Now?" she asked it.

Now, the invisible voice told her.

"How should we proceed, Lord of Time?"

I need a true body – any body!

"I shall see to it, Lord," she said, bowing her head.

--

The Doctor was sitting there. A young wizard guard was just visible, doing nothing, saying nothing, just standing there. The Doctor turned to Donna, and nodded.

"Oi, guard!" she yelled. "I need the loo!"

The guard said nothing, but flicked his wand lazily into the cell. The wall transmogrified into a toilet.

"There," the guard said. "No shut up, ginger, before I make you."

"Ron Weasley wouldn't be too happy about that sort of slander!" the Doctor called. He looked at Donna, who was sitting on the loo, and he quickly looked away at the outraged look on her face.

"Don't get any ideas, spaceman!" she said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied. He couldn't understand this. Why were all his friends here suddenly turning against him? What had happened in his absence? What the hell was going on.

He was distracted from his reverie by a sound from the door.

"I'm sorry ma'am, no one is allowed to see the prisoners," the guard was saying.

"Well, I'm not no one, I'm Luna Lovegood!"

"You're still not allowed to –"

"How old are you?" Luna's voice asked.

"What? Twenty nine, but that's not…"

A heavy thumping sound came from outside and then the doors opened.

Luna Lovegood was standing there, happy as larry, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Itssat loony bird," Donna said, slightly in awe.

"Luna, actually," Luna corrected her. "And you are the threefold man."

"What?" Donna asked.

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor said, "what matters is, Luna what the hell are you doing?"

"Rescuing the last of the Time Lords," she smiled at him.

"And what about… him?" the Doctor asked.

Luna held up the ring, and knelt beside the unconscious guard. The Doctyor realised what she was doing a split second before she did it – and was far, far too late to stop her.

She put the ring on the guards finger.

"NO!" he yelled, wrestling her to the ground. He turned to look at the guard, who was spasming, foaming at the mouth.

"You… you didn't…" the Doctor spluttered.

"Last of the Time Lords…" Luna grinned, manically, "no more."

The man stopped spasming, and slowly, glowed and glowed, a white light obscuring his face and hands…

And then the light receded and the new man was revealed. The same nose, the same face, as when the Doctor had last seen him.

The brown eyes snapped open, and the man sat up, and looked straight at the Doctor.

"Hello," the Master said, and he smiled.


	6. You Must Die

**Ten Years ago.**

The Daleks were invading on a massive scale. Most Wizarding folk had decided to hide from them, and they were doing an alright job, but the Department of ETIC didn't exist to hide, they existed to fight for humanity.

"C'mon!" Ron yelled, as more and more Wizard troops came. Aurors, ETIC specialists, they all fired their wands at the approaching army of Daleks.

"Here they come!" Carrigan yelled. "Kill 'em all!"

Bolts of red and green light flew from the Wizard ranks, blasting Daleks apart. In return, blue lasers struck Wizards, sending them flying away, dead as doornails. This was war for the sake of the planet, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were damned if they were going to lose.

--

**The Present.**

The Doctor stared at the Master, shocked beyond all possible belief.

"You're alive," he pointed out.

"I am," the Master smiled.

"You were dead," the Doctor informed him.

"Yes, I know," the Master smiled again, and then added, "and you were regnerated."

"Yes, I was," the Doctor said. "But there was this whole thing with being dead, and then I met Rass - never mind."

"So," the Master asked, "what's the problem?"

"Problem?" the Doctor asked. "What problem?"

"There's bound to be a problem, Doctor," the Master smiled. "There's always a problem with you."

"Excuse me," Donna asked, "but who the hell are you?"

"I am the Master," the Master told her. "Old friend of the Doctors."

"Old enemy more like," the Doctor muttered. "Anyway, thank you," he said to Luna, "for rescuing us, but now I need to go see someone."

"Like us for example?" came a familiar voice. Ron, Harry and Hermione came around the corner, to a squeal of delight from the Master.

"Great, the whole gang's here!" he yelled. "Now we can -"

"Shut up," Harry snapped. "And you, Doctor, have some serious explaining to do."

"Do I?" the Doctor said. "About what?"

"Your actions," Ron said. "We never questioned them before, but we see things in a different light now."

"You're a threat to this planet," Hermione added.

Donna watched the Doctor square up to his friends.

"There's something on your back," Luna Lovegood said from behid her. She jumped - she had forgotten the loony bird was there.

"Whaddya mean?" Donna asked.

"What I say," the woman smiled.

"The last bunch of people who told me _I _was a threat to this planet," the Doctor was saying, "were Torchwood. Ad I suppose you know how _that_ turned out."

"We do," Ron said, "but it's turning out differently now."

"Look," Donna said, "why don't you just take the Doctor to see this bloke - whats'isname - Bumblemore, or whatever, and then let them talk it over!"

The trio looked at each other.

"Fine," Ron said at last. "Take them to the portrait."

--

Albus Dumbledore – or rather, the portrait that resembled a young Albus Dumbledore and shared many of his characteristics – looked down his half moon specs at the Doctor.

"Doctor, that's a painting," Donna said.

"Yep," the Time Lord replied.

"It's moving," Donna pointed out.

"Yep," the Doctor acknowledged.

"Isn't that weird?" the bemused human Muggle asked.

"Not... really," the Doctor said, with a shrug. The Painting spoke, after a moment.

"So you're here at last," it said.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, looking at the portrait distastefully. "It's me. And you are – what, exactly? An echo? A shade? A bad bit of art that never got a decent review? Bitter are we?"

"You mock me, but you will be made to understand," the painting said. "And now, you are here, so we can begin."

"Begin what?" Donna asked.

"Something very clichéd and boring no doubt," the Master commented. "Can you just get on with it?"

"Who are you?" the painting asked him. The Doctor looked at the Master. He looked exactly like the Master from before – yet Ron, Hermione and Harry had yet to comment upon this supposedly dead mans return.

"Oh, you wanna keep up, Picasso-reject!" the Master laughed. "I am the Master."

At this, the other wizards aimed thier wands at him in shock. Hermione gasped. The Master smiled and bowed.

"Too kind, too kind..." he muttered.

"You're dead," Ron pointed out.

"Yeah well," the Master smiled, "turns out I'm... not."

"Whether you are dead or not matters little to me," the Dumbledore-painting said. "I intend to defend his planet against your evil."

"His or mine?" the Doctor asked.

"Both."

"Look," Donna said, pointing at the painting. "I don't know what planet you've been on mate, but this is the Doctor – he helps people! Saves 'em! Whole planets out there owe their lives to 'im..."

"Perhaps," Dumbledore said, "but I do not care about that. You have caused enourmous damage to this wizarding world."

"How have we managed that?" the Master asked, clearly interested.

"You're meddlers, both," Dumbledore said. "We have to keep our existence secret, yet look – here now, a Muggle!"

Donna looked annoyed.

"Who you calling a Muggle, you scribble?!" she yelled.

"Donna, not helping," the Doctor said, but the Master laughed.

"Finally, you find a decent companion!" he said.

"The point is," the painting said, "that you are a threat. And because of that, I'm very sorry to say, Doctor..."

And here, the image looked down its nose, through its spectacles, piercing the Doctor like the real Dumbledore used to.

"You must die."


	7. Have I crashed the party?

The Master was laughing. The Doctor shot him a filthy look, but he didn't care. The Master was laughing because he knew something that the painting didn't.

"You're so stupid!" he laughed at it. "I mean, really though? You think that I would have resurrected myself, let myself die, just to get killed by a dodgy work of art?"

He stared right at the portrait.

"Oh by the way, your hypnotic abilities are crap."

He clicked his fingers, and Hermione, Harry and Ron collapsed. Then he turned to Luna, and she threw him a small, silver and gold pen-like device, which he activated and aimed at the picture.

"I," he said, with the utmost relish, "am the Master, and I will not be killed by the likes of you."

The painting stared at him for a long moment, smiling. Then it laughed. The Doctor turned to Donna in the confusion.

"When I say run, run," he said.

"But what about you?" she asked.

"Don't argue – just do it!"

The painting looked at the Master and smiled.

"You've certainly changed, haven't you," he smiled. "I remember when you were the Doctors tame pet, and nothing more. I remember when your TARDIS was hiding in his. I remember when you couldn't call yourself a man."

The Master stared at him.

"Haven't you worked it out yet?" the painting said, and the Doctor gasped – because he had. The final loose end. The last piece of the jigsaw.

--

Such a long time ago…

He was dead and gone, the echo reverberating outward… he had never believed that death could be liberating but here he was, liberated from the Doctor.

Then, somehow, he found himself being dragged, dragged down, and down, and down…

And then he opened new eyes, and found himself staring at the two men who had so painstakingly created him.

"Albus Dumbledore?" they asked.

The Echo of the Master scanned new memories, that were there as well as fragmented versions of his own, then he smiled.

"Why, yes!" he said.

--

"You were gone," the Master said. "Gone and deceased."

"Yes, I was," the painting said. "But only for a short time, because I knew you would return. When I heard you had died, I figured that you would return because I knew I would have. And now, the circle is complete, and the Two Masters will become one…"

And then a golden light came out of the painting, and the Master stared at it in abject horror, and Luna smiled, and the Doctor yelled "RUN!"

Donna ran, and ran and ran, because anything that made the Doctor as afraid as he sounded now was nothing she wanted to meet. And then, the Echo Master blinked, and turned to the Doctor with a cold grin. He was Yana, older and colder, wearing the same combo.

"Hello, Doctor," he said. "Long time no see."

He aimed his laser screwdriver at the Doctor, only for it to fly out of his hand.

"No!" Hermione yelled. "You used me!"

"And me," Ron said, equally furious. "I won't let you do it again!"

"You murdering bastard!" Harry added. The Master turned to them, and almost smiled. Then, they came at him, but he clicked his fingers and they stopped in horror.

"This is not your affair," he said. "Go away."

They went away, stiffly, as if they were not in control of their own movements. The Master – the Saxon Master - turned to the Doctor.

"That'll be my cue to bugger off," he smiled. "Have fun – bye bye!"

He turned and before anyone could do anything, he ran. Luna dithered for a moment, but stayed, then she smiled at the Yana Master.

"Do it," he said.

--

The Master ran as fast as he could, as far as he could. He wasn't in the mood to stand by and let this new him decide he wasn't worthy all over again…

And then, horrifyingly, terribly, he felt the old familiar feeling of non being, and looked down to see himself dissolving…

--

"What did you do?" the Doctor barked.

"I levelled the playing field for you Doctor," the Master smiled. "Now there are only the two of us – oh, but look, you're so… young, and strong. Maybe I should copy that…"

And with that, he looked up, smiled and then the golden light burst again, dissolving his features and remoulding them, shining like a sun… and Luna held out her wand, and said the words;

"The Master Reborn…"

And then he screamed, as more light, this time from Luna's wand, went into him… and then, more light, even more light, came from the corridor, and the Doctor knew somehow that this light was that of the Master from the ring…

And then, it was over. The Master fell to the floor, wearing the Saxon body again.

"Ouch," he said. Then he got up, and looked at his hand, then looked at the Doctor, then laughed.

"Oh yes!" he yelled. "Ooh, I'll have to get used to this voice again…"

"What just happened?" the Doctor snapped.

"Well," the Master said, putting on a mock thoughtful voice, "I just regenerated. Completely successfully might I add! And the two separate versions of myself just merged – and…"

He held out his hand, and a bolt of light hit the Doctor square in the chest.

"I can do that! So now, Doctor," and here the Master leered evily. "You will, actually, genuinely die."

Before he could act on this threat however, a vworp vworp noise filled the room ,and a blue Police Box materialised, and a man popped his head out of the door. He was short haired, beaky nose, blue eyes.

The Eleventh Doctor.

"Oh, hi," he said. "Have I crashed the party?"


	8. The Never Ending Adventure

He was the Doctor. Nobody was telling him otherwise. Nobody. Yeah, he wasn't really the Doctor. He was a fake, really, but… he was the Doctor. He was, and here he was, saving the day. Like he always had, like he always would.

"You!" the Master snarled. "You're not meant to be here!"

"Well, that isn't strictly true," the Doctor smiled. "He can be here if he so chooses."

"Why thank you," the Eleventh Doctor smiled. He was dressed, as usual, in shirt, jumper, checked trousers and frock coat. His smile faded, and he looked at the Master closely. "You seem to have changed a little…"

"Not that much," the Master grinned. "I'm still me… I'm always me. Whereas you are… well, what can I say?"

"Handsome and dashing?" the Eleventh Doctor smiled. "And victorious, I might add."

"You haven't even done anything," the Master snarled again. He held up his hand and flicked his middle finger. Then he tried again. The Doctor – both of them – smiled.

"How did you block that?" he said, confused. "How did you…?"

"One thing that I did do during my time," the Eleventh Doctor smiled, "was learn how to use the Psionic energy. I can stop any fight that you try to instigate."

"Well, you can't block this," the Master snarled, aiming his laser screwdriver, but the Doctor flicked his hand and the screwdriver fell away.

The Master snarled again, and held out his hands.

"Die!" he yelled, heading for the Eleventh Doctor, who held up his own arms… and then, a blue light began building around the room, emanating from the Doctor and the Master, covering more and more of the building.

"Get out of here!" the Eleventh Doctor yelled. The Master stepped back for a moment, and glanced at his hands, before turning to Luna.

"Get out of here!" he yelled to her. "Go!"

The Tenth Doctor and Luna ran out of the room, but as he tried to grab her, she ran off and Disapparated. The Tenth Doctor swore and ran off towards what he hoped was Donna's locale.

--

Donna ran as fast as she could remember. She prayed that the Doctor would be all right.. but she heard the screaming. She heard the yells.

"Donna!" someone called. She turned to see Hermione Granger, running towards her, smiling.

Before the younger woman could say anything, Donna slapped her across the face.

"You bitch!" she swore. "You turn on the Doctor, and then you're smiling at me?!"

"We were hypnotised," Hermione said. "Ron and Harry went to get more guards, but I wanted to find you."

"Why?" Donna asked, suspicious.

"Because I wanted to say sorry," she said. "For getting you into this. For betraying you and the Doctor."

"Well," the Doctor said, coming up behind them, grinning. "What can I say? People have been hypnotised by the Master before."

"Doctor!" Hermione smiled. He ignored her and concentrated on Donna.

"We need to get out of here," he said. "All of us," he added, looking at Hermione. "Because, if what I think is going to happen is, this entire building is doomed."

"What is going to happen?" Hermione asked.

"The Master is fighting someone who needs to kill himself to kill the Master," the Doctor said, grimly. "The battle will cost the D – this other man, his life."

--

The blue light shone, and shone. They fought, as they always would, as they always had. As perhaps, they always would. Even if it wasn't him.

"You can't beat me!" the Master yelled.

"I can, and I will!" the Eleventh Doctor screamed back. "I'll never let you win!"

"You won't survive this," the Master said in his own head. "You'll die with me."

"But there's another me," the Doctor replied silently. "I might die, but I will live on. If you get what I mean."

"No I don't," the Master said. "You as an individual being will die. But frankly, why should I care?"

"Because you'll die too?" the Doctor almost smiled.

"That might be true," the Master considered. "But… you will."

"You forget," the Doctor smiled. "I always knew that I would die saving this planet."

"Did you know it was me you'd be saving it from?" the Master asked.

"No," the Doctor said, "but I had my suspicions."

The light continued to grow in intensity…

--

"Doctor, everyone is out," Hermione said.

He was staring down the corridor. He knew that something was up, and that the building was about to die.

He turned around and faced the TARDIS. Donna was safely inside, and so was Hermione. The others were out. This building was doomed. They were doomed. The Master and the Eleventh Doctor.

Hope it's a good death.

That was what he had said to Rose all those years ago.

"Yes," he said to himself. "The good death."

This was it, at long last. He had waited so long, and he was not there to live the death.

"Doctor!" Donna's voice called. "Come on!"

He waited one moment longer. He looked at the TARDIS. He looked back down the corridor.

"Times up," he said.

He ran into the TARDIS.

--

They would always attribute the destruction of the building to a gas leak. No one was hurt, fortunately.

The Doctor flicked a switch, and looked at the scanner. The explosion was, as he had expected, huge.

"Doctor – who was the man who fought the Master?" Hermione asked.

"No one you knew," the Doctor replied. "No one."

"Try again," Donna said.

He looked at Donna, then at Hermione.

"Eleven," he said. "That's who it was."

Hermione's eyes widened in comprehension, then tears formed. She had known the Eleventh Doctor. She regretted his death.

"Once more the world is safe," the Doctor said, smiling.

Hermione sat down. He stopped smiling, and flicked another switch. The TARDIS materialised.

"Out there," he said, "is your home. Go home."

She looked at him.

"Will this happen again?" she asked. He looked at her, and smiled.

"No," he said. "I promise you, this is the last time I'll see you. The last time you'll need me."

Hermione nodded. Then she opened her mouth to say, sorry, that she had ever doubted the Doctor, that she had mistrusted him, that she was grateful…

Instead, all she said was, "thank you".

He nodded, and then she ran out of the door.

--

Hermione hugged Ron, and he stroked her hair.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"He's not coming back," Hermione said. "Ever."

"To this planet?" Ron asked.

"To us," Hermione said. "Ever."

"Did you say sorry?" Ron asked.

"No," Hermione sobbed. "I… I couldn't… I want to. Oh, how I want to…"

"Then, we are alone," Harry said, looking as the blue box vanished. "Alone against the dark."

"No," Hermione said, looking up as well. Ron did too.

"He'll come back one day," Hermione said. "To this world. When we need him."

"One day," Harry said. "And we'll be waiting. Come on, guys."

They walked off.

--

In the rubble and wreckage, once again, a ring lay among ashes. Its design was such that it didn't even heat up when the building exploded.

And once again, a woman's hand descended upon it.

And once again, the mad laughter of a man thought dead came upon the world.

And once again, the hand lifted the ring away.

--

The Doctor smiled and flicked another switch.

"Where to now?" he asked Donna.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. "After all of this… I dunno what we should do, where we should go."

"Neither do I," he said, looking utterly lost for a moment. "I thought I could trust them."

"I know," she said.

"Still," he said, "I bet you know we should relax, so, where better than your granddads hill?"

She smiled, and he smiled, and then he pulled a lever, and the TARDIS was off again, on the never-ending adventure…


End file.
